Jun 18, 2018

Key ocean fish can prevail with changes to farmed fish, livestock diets

As seafood consumption outpaces the growth of other food sectors and continues to grow worldwide, farmed seafood — also called aquaculture — has increased rapidly to meet consumer demand. That means aquatic farming now puts the most pressure on the smaller forage fish harvested to feed their larger farmed counterparts such as salmon, carp and tilapia. A new study appearing online June 14 in Nature Sustainability shows that if current aquaculture and agriculture practices remain unchanged into the future, wild forage fish populations likely will be overextended by the year 2050, and possibly sooner — even if all stocks were fished sustainably.

Choice matters: The environmental costs of producing meat, seafood

Fishing boat on open waters near Dingle Peninsula coast.

Believed to be the most comprehensive assessment of its kind, scientists were able to determine which kinds of food are the most environmentally costly to produce based on a decade of analysis.

College contributes to Campus Sustainability Fund project in honor of 2018 graduates

It is graduation season, and with that comes well wishes for our graduates and an opportunity to shine a light on their accomplishments. In appreciation of their contributions to enriching the College of the Environment in numerous ways, the College has decided to fund a project jointly with the Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF). Recognizing our students are the next generation of leaders in environmental science and decision-making, we believe this is a contribution that showcases our collective commitment to the sustainability and the well-being of our Husky Community and our planet.

UW Environment alumna Eliza Dawson to row across the Pacific Ocean for climate change awareness

Female rower wearing a hat and wetsuit rows on Lake Washington with Fremont Bridge behind her.

Eliza Dawson, a former UW crew member who majored in atmospheric sciences at UW’s College of the Environment, is part of a four-woman team that will row across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii this June. She and her team hope to break the world record for women rowers — 50 days, 8 hours, 14 minutes — set in 2014. Dawson is also taking part in the 2,400-mile rowing race from Monterey, California, to Honolulu to spotlight the far-reaching impacts of humankind on the Earth by rowing across parts of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast gyre of plastic garbage occupying an area four times the size of California.

Temporary 'bathtub drains' in the ocean concentrate marine debris

The project used hundreds of biodegradable white plastic drifters in several experiments to mimic how flotsam, or floating debris, travels in the ocean.

An experiment featuring the largest flotilla of sensors ever deployed in a single area provides new insights into how marine debris, or flotsam, moves on the surface of the ocean. Conducted in the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the experiment placed hundreds of drifting sensors to observe how material moves on the ocean’s surface.